A wave of heat struck his face, and the sight inside the Forging Institute left Xuan Ziwen utterly stunned.
Inside enormous furnaces, crimson molten metal churned and boiled like magma, radiating suffocating waves of heat.
Hundreds of forgers surrounded metal blanks that gleamed with strange lusters. Every strike of their fists or forging hammers sent out rings of soul power ripples visible to the naked eye.
Most astonishing of all, the metals actually pulsed like beating hearts in time with their forging rhythms.
"This..."
Xuan Ziwen's voice trembled slightly. "Are those the metals' heartbeats? They actually have life?"
Huo Yuhao replied, "To be precise, the metals are resonating with the forgers."
"The forging method we use now incorporates Clear Sky Castle's Chaotic Cloak, the Clear Sky Nine Absolutes, the Body Sect's Unity of Heaven and Man, and many other combat techniques and self-created soul skills."
"Every hammer blow, every punch, must not only accomplish physical forging, but also achieve resonance with the metal on the mental and even martial soul levels."
Huo Yuhao pointed at a Body Sect disciple who was forging.
His eyes were wide open, and his fist, wrapped in soul power, slammed heavily against the metal's surface.
Xuan Ziwen soon noticed that every one of his strikes carried a peculiar rhythm.
Under his pounding, the piece of metal trembled faintly along with him, as though it were alive.
Patterns like ripples on water spread across its surface, and a faint "thump-thump" like a heartbeat could even be heard.
Xuan Ziwen's eyes widened. "This is practically giving life to metal."
"Not entirely."
Huo Yuhao shook his head. "The essence of mind-soul metal lies in bringing the spirituality sleeping within the metal into resonance with everything that makes up the forger."
"We aren't creating life. We're awakening the metal's